The present invention is in the technical field of medical devices. The cannulas are medical devices used by orthopedic and general surgeons with the intent to allow them to visualize instrumentation passing through the skin and layers of the body and also to maintain an open area to add saline water during the surgery process and remove damage material from the interior of the body.
Typically, orthopedic and general surgeons choose arthroscopic surgeries over traditional open surgery due to the fact that the joint does not have to be opened up fully. This technique is considered as a minimally invasive surgical procedure. Currently, arthroscopic surgeries are performed using three or four small incisions of 1 cm long approximately. The first incision is dedicated for use of the arthroscope device (tiny camera), second and third for the use of several surgical instruments (if the third is needed) and fourth for the supply of saline solution and removal of waste material in the joint cavity. This procedure reduces recovery time and may increase the rate of success due to less trauma to the connective tissue. There is also less scarring, because of the smaller incisions.
Much of the focus in recent years has centered on less invasive procedures. Such well-established and successful interventions as total hip replacement, rotator cuff surgery, total knee replacement, shoulder stabilization surgery, gall bladder removal, uterus and colon repairs and others are being done through surgical approaches that minimize skin incisions. The advocates of these procedures cite decreased recuperation time, decreased morbidity, decreased pain, and fewer days of hospitalization as advantages of these procedures.